The day we won the title
Day 1: Friday, June 16
The day has finally come and I was up a the crack of dawn waiting to go.
The day seemed like a mile long. We met up in Kiltgean at 1.10pm to get pictures with Michael Dwyers.
I was getting nervous at this stage – there were so many people there to support all of us.
We got pictures sorted and even a little prayer from Fr. Pat and a sprinkle of holy water and then we were on our way.
The crack was great on the bus and we were all belting out the tunes.
We soon arrived at our host venue Rathgarogue/Cushintown. We got off the bus and went straight to the dressing room to prepare for our first match against KIlmacow.
The heat was unbearable – we got told our positions. I was playing midfield – I was happy with that and at 4.45pm our first match started.
It was hard going, the sun beamed down on us all, it was 15 minutes each side.
We got off to a great start and won the match. My team-mates and I were over the moon, then it was time to cool down and prepare for match number two against Causeway, Co. Kerry, which was due to start at 6.30pm.
Our trainers warmed us up to get started again. This match was tougher than the last one and we fell a little short and lost that one.
We were all so disappointed but we knew we were still in the tournament so we put it behind us and now it was time to meet our host familiies. I couldn’t wait to see where Sophie and I were to stay. Then they called our names and we were to stay with Jimmy and Janet Martin and their only daughter Amy.
I couldn’t have been happier with them, we left Rathgarogue/ Cushintown GAA club and headed to their house where we were made feel more than welcome.
Sophie and I presented them with our gifts we had brought them and then went to the bed. I couldn’t wait to see what tomorrow was going to bring.
Day 2: Saturday, June 17
At 7.50am the alarm beeped and we were up like lightning and rearing to go.
We got breakfast with our host family and headed back to Rathgarogue/Cushintown GAA club to play our next match against our host team which started at 10.30am.
Again we warmed up and got our positions. This team was even harder than the last. I got a terrible bang on the wrist and thought I was going to be in trouble and not able to play, but I carried on as best I could.
But for our team-mates and I it wasn’t to be our day. Our host team had defeated us and we were so disappointed to be knocked out of the cup, but the shield was still all to play for.
We needed to win our next match to be put through to the semi-final of the shield.
We were so hot and exhausted – our club decided to bring us to the Horse and Hound Hotel to get food.
The bus collected us to bring us to our quarter-final in Danesfort, Co. Kilkenny.
On the way we found out we were to play Four Roads, Co. Roscommon.
We stopped at a shop on the way to get a must needed icecream and then we were off again.
We arrived and the place was packed with teams and supporters. We had to wait a little while before our match started – it felt like forever, but the time came, we warmed up and got our team talk, headed out – the heat was
unbelievable.
We all found it hard but we started off well and found our feet,. It was touch and go, I even scored a rasper of a point and this boosted me.
I couldn’t wait to hear the whistle to say it was over. We had won and we were on our way to the semi-final. We celebrated all evening. Our trainers decided to get us back on the bus to travel to Bagnelstown to support our boys Michael Dwyers in their match against Glenmore, Co. Kilkenny which they won and we done a guard of honour.
Our spirits were high and we headed back to our host town where we were greeted with lots of food and craic.
We went back home to the hsot families house and straight to bed for our big day tomorrow.
Day 3: Sunday, June 18
It was semi-final day and maybe even the finals. We got up early and were on our way to Fenagh.
Our first match was to start at 10am against Edendork, Co. Tyrone.
The sun was out in force again and all the supporters and us were burnt to bits.
We warmed up and got a really good team talk which boosted us. We were all on cloud nine going out.
We went out and it all started. Another tough game, nothing came easy – we had to fight hard for everything, but we came away on top winning this one.
I couldn’t believe it , we were in the final the All Ireland Féile Division 5 Shield final. It was hard to believe.
Our trainers settled us down to get ready for the final against Danesfort, Co. Kilkenny, which was to start at 1:30pm.
We had a lot of time before we were to go out and play our socks off, so we all went into our dressing rooms and sang our hearts out to all the tunes.
We had a great laugh, time went by quickly and soon enough it was time for the game to begin.
A piper played while we were jogging out to play our final, it was a memory that will last forever.
I spotted all the supporters, I couldn’t believe how many had showed up to cheer us on.
The whistle blew, the game was on, it was tough going from the get-go. It was close scores all the way, we just couldn’t find the goals and then the whistle blew.
The game was over – we were level. We had to play another five long minutes of extra-time each side. We got a good team eating and we were roiled up.
We worked so hard we weren’t going to let it go easy.
It started again, we all pushed hard and we were rewarded in the last minutes of the second half.
We scored a goal and just to seal the deal we finished with a point.
Then I heard it, “the whistle” – it was over.
We had won the All-Ireland Féile Division 5 Shield final 2017. We were champions: “ole ole ole”.
We jumped around, threw water everywhere, we just couldn’t believe all our nights traning had paid off.
We gathered ourselves and headed for our presentation – we got our All-Ireland medals and headed back to the dressing room for celebrations which carried on all the way home on the bus.
We all met up at The Green in Kiltegan where a piper was there to parade us down our village where all the supporters applauded us as we went.
We had a lot of speeches and presented our coaches with gifts to show how much we appreciated their hard work.
The celebrations carried on with food in Germaines that evening.
The weekend was one to remember and will last in my memories for a lifetime.